Crossword-Solution: HOFUF 5 letters, 1 clue 🏆 scrabble score: 14

North of Katif it is desert and only inhabited by nomads; at Katif, however, and throughout the district to the south bordering on the Gulf of Bahrein there are ample supplies of underground water, welling up in abundant springs often at a high temperature, and bringing fertility to an extensive district of which El Hofuf, a town of 15,000 to 20,000 inhabitants, is the most important centre.

Midhat Pasha, then governor-general, seized the occasion of asserting Turkish dominion on the Persian Gulf coast, and in 1875, in spite of British protests, occupied El Hasa and established a new province under the title of Nejd, with its headquarters at Hofuf, of which Abdallah was appointed governor.

The oases of Hofuf and Katif, however, form a strong contrast to the barren wastes that cover the greater part of the district.

The fort is a strongly built enclosure attributed, like that at Hofuf, to the Carmathian prince Abu Tahir.

Politically El Hasa is a dependency of Turkey, and its capital Hofuf is the headquarters of the sanjak or district of Nejd.